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4-star Enzo Jennings on Michigan-Michigan State: You could feel the hatred

That was how Enzo Jennings described his visit to East Lansing this weekend when Michigan State hosted Michigan in a game that was emotional even before the opening kickoff of the Wolverines 21-7 victory.

“You could feel the hatred,’’ Jennings said. “It was delayed and rainy, but it was good. It was real intense even in the rain. I liked it. You could tell they don’t like each other. Michigan is good. Michigan State fought. What I learned is college football is way more intense than high school football. They’ll praise you if you do something good. They’ll get on your head if you do something wrong.’’

The Knights open the Division 2 playoffs Friday at home against Ferndale. A victory there could set up a district championship game against Warren De La Salle, the defending Division 2 champs.

With 17 offers, per 247, Jennings said Wednesday: “I plan on making official visits to Michigan, Michigan State, Auburn, Penn State and Ohio State.’’

Previous trips to Auburn and Penn State were cancelled due to illness or scheduling issues.

Jennings and Oak Park had dreams of an undefeated season until a 27-21 Homecoming loss to West Bloomfield in a game they didn’t show up for in the first half.

“Coach really got on us,’’ said Jennings.

Oak Park defensive back Enzo Jennings (3) celebrates a touchdown against Utica Eisenhower with Jalen Fielder (10) and Corion Montgomery (9) during the first half of a Prep Kickoff Classic game at Wayne State University's Tom Adams Field in Detroit, Thursday, August 23, 2018.(Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)

Rebounding from the poor effort, the Knights heard about their performance against West Bloomfield going into the season finale.

“The whole week was intense,’’ Jennings said. “I’ve never seen coach (Greg) Carter that mad in practice. He might not have been mad, but he wasn’t playing. The whole team just followed his lead. Everybody was together and on their assignments.’’

“I think we prepared well and the West B. loss really fueled it,’’ said Jennings. “If we didn’t lose against West Bloomfield I don’t know if we would’ve played that well against Clarkston. When we lost our goal changed to ‘let’s go 8-1’ and that’s what happened. Everybody was patient against Clarkston. Against West Bloomfield it was our first game against a good team. Playing against a team as good as Clarkston we knew we had to be ready. Our whole regular season I don’t think we played as hard as we could.’’

That won't be the case starting Friday.

“We’re trying to play up to our level and put 60 on anybody we play against and win a state championship,'' Jennings said.